Winter is coming to Oregon, and it might be a rough one. As if the pandemic, riots, and a recession weren’t enough, the Northwest is looking at La Niña weather conditions that will bring us a cold, wet winter. While most of us will tough it out in our warm homes, thousands of unsheltered homeless […]
Want to help a low-income individual prosper economically? Give them a car. Multiple studies have shown that having access to private wheels is positively correlated with income levels and hours worked. Thus, giving someone a personal vehicle is a sure way to help them gain access to more job opportunities, and thus a greater potential […]
After retiring from the military, I set about starting the next phase of my life as a civilian, and I settled into the home that I built north of Sandy. I was happy to enjoy the slower pace of life in my peaceful rural setting. After a while, I started looking around and noticing that […]
After eight years of bragging that the proposed light rail line to Tigard would result in average daily ridership of 43,000, TriMet has quietly dropped the estimate to 37,500. This “bait-and-switch” was totally predictable. At the start of every rail planning process, TriMet creates a high ridership estimate to get local politicians excited. Once the […]
There is a homeless crisis in Portland. According to a recent count by Portland State University, the number of people found living in “unfit” conditions, such as in a tent outdoors, under a bridge or overpass, or in their car, has increased by 20% between 2017 and 2019. Instead of providing sound and beneficial policies […]
By now, Oregon voters have received their ballots for the November 5 election. One of the items is Measure 26-203: a $475 million bond measure by Metro, the regional government for the Portland area. Metro wants the money so it can buy more land for its so-called parks and nature program, a program that has […]
Voters should reject Metro’s tax increase and land grab In approximately four weeks Portland area voters will receive their November ballots. One of the items is Measure 26-203: a $475 million bond measure by Metro, the regional government for the Portland area. Metro wants the money so it can buy more land for its so-called […]
In the 2018 general election, voters approved a bond measure that enabled Metro to borrow about $652 million for low-income public housing in the tri-county area. This money will be given out to localities within Metro. With the minimum of 3,900 housing units to be built, the price-tag would be more than $165,000 per unit. […]
There have been many negative comments about the Clackamas County Commission’s choice to study changing the long term zoning designations on three areas amounting to 1625 acres. These areas are currently planned as rural reserve. We proposed to mark them as “undesignated”. The total of these properties are less than 2% of the county’s proposed […]
As Clackamas County Chair, I have grown increasingly disappointed with other regional government leaders prioritizing billions in light rail mass transit over fixing the traffic congestion problems that our county residents are so frustrated with. Worsening traffic congestion affects not only Clackamas County’s businesses but our residents who commute in and out of the county […]